Facebook reportedly launching a suite of new standalone mobile apps in 2014

According to reports Facebook has plans to launch several different standalone apps this year, following a lack luster response to its Facebook Home project. While the company is still regularly updating Facebook Messenger on iOS and Android, it has plans to parse out its services into dedicated apps.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg was noted as hinting at standalone apps back around the time the Facebook Messenger app launched, saying we should expect the company to introduce more dedicated sharing apps like Instagram and Messenger.

Now inside sources say the company intends to do just that in 2014. We are likely to see more single purpose apps like the Flipboard-like news reader app, dubbed Paper, that is rumored to be inbound. With the Messenger and Instagram platforms doing so well, most see news as the company's next big opportunity, especially after Zuckerberg was noted as saying that he would like the site to offer its users a dedicated personalized newspaper experience without the social clutter.

Reports also suggest Facebook could be interested in standalone search and calendar apps, but there is nothing specific pointing to this as of yet. While there are no specific announcement dates at this time, Mark Zuckerberg is scheduled to appear at a Facebook keynote late next month in Barcelona for Mobile World Congress.